Man accused of shooting Riverview teacher to stand trial after preliminary hearing

A judge has ordered a Moncton man accused of shooting a Riverview teacher outside a high school in January to stand trial following a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. 

Janson Bryan Baker faces more than two dozen charges, including attempting to murder Christopher Leger with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun on Jan. 5 outside Riverview High School.

Provincial court Judge Brigitte Volpé presided over the hearing at the Moncton courthouse. A preliminary hearing is held to determine whether there is enough evidence to send a case to trial.

However in this case, defence lawyer Jason Dempsey told Volpé they consented to the judge ordering Baker to stand trial without the need to issue a ruling.

None of the evidence given during the hearing can be reported because of a publication ban. Such bans are standard for preliminary hearings. 

RCMP have previously said that Leger was leaving the high school when Baker allegedly approached him and demanded that he hand over the bag he was carrying. Baker then allegedly pulled out a gun and fired it, the RCMP said. 

Baker then allegedly fled the area. In a letter the school issued publicly the following day, it said the teacher suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The shooting led to the RCMP's first use in New Brunswick of the emergency alert system.

A search for Baker continued overnight. Baker was arrested Jan. 6 in Amherst, N.S. Charges were laid in February. 

Baker is expected to appear in the Court of Queen's Bench either next month or in January, when trial dates will be set.

Baker also faces charges of using a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun to also attempt to rob Joshua Hebb on Jan. 5.

Other charges include intentionally discharging a firearm while being reckless as to life, aggravated assault, storing a prohibited weapon, two charges of pointing a firearm, possession of a firearm for the purpose of committing an offence, possession of a firearm for which he did not have a registration certificate, along with a handful of other firearm-related charges.

He also faces charges related to other alleged crimes from a separate time on that same day, including break and enter at a motel room on Homestead Road in Steeves Mountain, as well as allegedly stealing money from Gregory Lee Lewis while armed with a knife, and wounding Lewis with a knife.

Baker is also charged with crimes allegedly committed in December, including possession of a prohibited weapon while being prohibited from doing so, assault, driving a motor vehicle while his privileges were suspended, stealing gasoline from a gas station in Pointe-du-Chêne, and stealing a car in Grand-Barachois.

He was also charged with stealing from a National Bank of Canada in Dieppe while using threats of violence to do so on Nov. 21.